Monthly Archives: September 2015

Four years ago, the Compass Green truck rumbled onto the campus of my high school in Iowa and with it was brought the importance of growing our own food. The sight of amaranth growing in companion planted beds has stayed with me, inspired me, and now I have the chance to pass on my passion for plants to other students.

After that day in the truck and because of it, I traveled all over the world learning how people in other countries and climates approach the universal task of growing food and nourishing our bodies. I studied and worked under fantastic famers in Europe, Latin America, and the South Pacific learning a variety of approaches, from organic agriculture to biodynamic farming and permaculture. Whether I was on a finca, ferme, or farm watching a seed grow into something delicious is something that has never ceased to amaze me.

Compass Green planted the seed of inspiration in my mind, the seed sprouted into a curiosity about my own involvement in growing healthy foods and blossomed as I began to sustainably practice farming. From personal experience, I know the education Compass Green provides is inspirational and empowering.

It has been so wonderful to see that same education from the perspective of a teacher in the past two weeks. I have realized that inspiration is not just given but exchanged. Already I have had the chance to educate some spectacular students, who ask earnest questions and whose desire to help the planet is just as genuine. Tomorrow I look forward to teaching my thousandth student (!) and many more bright youngsters over the next month!

Today we had a great time teaching at San Jose High School, our third school on our 2015 Fall Tour through California’s Bay Area.

Our tour is going to take us all around the Bay, as far south as Monterey, and as far north as Santa Rosa. We’re looking forward to educating an estimated 5,000 students about sustain ability with a focus on farming.